While the law, on its face, promises workers the right to strike and to organize, in practice it makes it difficult or impossible for independent unions to organize while condoning the corrupt practices of many existing unions and the employers with which they deal.

Contents

The current system originated in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, which produced the Constitution of 1917. Article 123 of that Constitution gave workers the right to organize labor unions and to strike. It also provided protection for women and children, the eight-hour day, and a living wage.

The Constitution's promised rights, however, remained mere promises until 1931, when the government enacted the Ley Federal de Trabajo or Federal Labor Law. The LFT established Juntas de Conciliación y Arbitraje (the Boards of Conciliation and Arbitration), made up of representatives of the government, employers and labor unions.

In order to participate in this system, a union must have a legal registration (registro), must have an officially recognized right to negotiate collective bargaining agreements (titularidad), and must periodically re-register its officers and be accepted by the state (toma de nota). This system can be used to hobble independent unions not associated with the CTM or other federations that have established relations with the state, since all three members of these boards often have self-interested reasons for denying or delaying registration to rival unions.

Employers can also avoid unionization by entering into "protection contracts" with "sindicatos blancos" or "white unions", often before a plant is ever built. Such contracts frequently give the union a closed shop, which authorizes the union to demand that the employer fire a worker who is not a member in the union in good standing; that power can, in turn, be used to single out employees who seek to organize independent unions for termination. Some observers, including the independent Unión Nacional de Trabajadores (http://www.unt.org.mx) or UNT, estimate that between eighty and ninety percent of all collective bargaining agreements in Mexico fall into this category.

Employees are not always aware that they are covered by a protection contract or that they are represented by a union; while the ghost union may have registered with the Board and filed its contract with it, those records are not made public. An outside union that has filed a petition seeking to organize workers may have its petition dismissed if it is unaware that another union is already recognized or if it does not list the correct name or legal address of the incumbent union.

If an outside union challenging a recognized union is able to obtain registration, then it must go through an election to oust the incumbent. Local Boards often delay such elections for long periods; when they do take place they are by voice vote, rather than secret ballot, in elections held in the workplace under the supervision of a representative of the labour board, the employer, the official union and the independent union. In recent contested elections workers have been required to pass through a gauntlet of armed representatives of the incumbent union in order to report for work and to vote in their workplace. Even if the independent union wins the election, the original contract remains in place until its expiration.

While Mexican labor law gives workers powerful rights to strike, barring employers from hiring replacement workers or operating during a strike, those rights are dependent on official approval from the Board. These local Boards frequently declare strikes to be "inexistente" or non-existent, depriving striking workers of all their legal protections. As a result, while labour protests and work stoppages are frequent in Mexico, legal strikes are rare.

The PRI and Mexican employers' associations started floating proposals to enhance productivity of Mexican industry by allowing it more "flexibility" during the late 1980s, when "technocrats" such as Miguel de la Madrid, Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Ernesto Zedillo were in command of the PRI. Those proposals made no headway, however, until after the election of Vicente Fox Quesada of the Partido Acción Nacional, or PAN, in 2000. Fox's Secretary of Labor, Carlos Abascal Carranza, a former head of one of the largest employer associations, initiated discussions in 2001 with employer associations and the official and independent union confederations aimed at achieving a consensus proposal for labor law reform.

The Abascal proposal presented in 2002, however, would tighten government control of unions and collective bargaining, without taking any steps to make information about unions' collective bargaining agreements or their activities available to affected workers or the public or make the organizing process any less cumbersome. On the contrary, the proposed reforms would heighten the risks for workers seeking to organize by requiring independent unions to submit the name and address of each of their members to the local Boards, which would then have the power to investigate the authenticity of their signatures.

The reforms would also favor existing unions by barring the board from considering more than one election petition at a time and tightening jurisdictional rules defining which labor organization can represent which workers, according to their craft, enterprise and company, making it impossible for some independent unions to challenge incumbents.

Opponents of the law have challenged it under the provisions of the labor side letter to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). While the CTM originally supported the reforms, some unions within the official labor movement have expressed reservations about it. The proposals are currently at a standstill.

1.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan

2.
Labor union
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The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment and this may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies. Unions may organize a section of skilled workers, a cross-section of workers from various trades. The agreements negotiated by a union are binding on the rank and file members, originating in Great Britain, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution. Trade unions may be composed of workers, professionals, past workers, students. Trade union density, or the percentage of workers belonging to a union, is highest in the Nordic countries. The trade unions aim at nothing less than to prevent the reduction of wages below the level that is maintained in the various branches of industry. That is to say, they wish to prevent the price of labour-power from falling below its value, yet historian R. A. the other the aggressive-expansionist drive to unite all labouring men and women for a different order of things. The 18th century economist Adam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to owners. In The Wealth of Nations, Book I, chapter 8, Smith wrote, We rarely hear, it has said, of the combination of masters. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual rate When workers combine, masters. As Smith noted, unions were illegal for many years in most countries, there were severe penalties for attempting to organize unions, up to and including execution. This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organized in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, Trade unions and collective bargaining were outlawed from no later than the middle of the 14th century when the Ordinance of Labourers was enacted in the Kingdom of England. In 1799, the Combination Act was passed, which banned trade unions, although the unions were subject to often severe repression until 1824, they were already widespread in cities such as London. Sympathy for the plight of the workers brought repeal of the acts in 1824, by the 1810s, the first labour organizations to bring together workers of divergent occupations were formed. Possibly the first such union was the General Union of Trades, also known as the Philanthropic Society, the latter name was to hide the organizations real purpose in a time when trade unions were still illegal. The Association quickly enrolled approximately 150 unions, consisting mostly of textile related unions, but also including mechanics, blacksmiths, and various others

3.
Collective bargaining
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The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. The union may negotiate with an employer or may negotiate with a group of businesses, depending on the country. A collective agreement functions as a contract between an employer and one or more unions. The parties often refer to the result of the negotiation as a bargaining agreement or as a collective employment agreement. The term collective bargaining was first used in 1891 by Beatrice Webb and it refers to the sort of collective negotiations and agreements that had existed since the rise of trade unions during the 18th century. In the United States, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 made it illegal for any employer to deny rights to an employee. The issue of unionizing government employees in a trade union was much more controversial until the 1950s. In 1962 President John F Kennedy issued an order granting Federal employees the right to unionize. The right to bargain is recognized through international human rights conventions. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights identifies the ability to trade unions as a fundamental human right. In June 2007 the Supreme Court of Canada extensively reviewed the rationale for regarding collective bargaining as a human right, Collective bargaining permits workers to achieve a form of workplace democracy and to ensure the rule of law in the workplace. Workers gain a voice to influence the establishment of rules that control an aspect of their lives. Union members and other covered by collective agreements get, on average. Such a markup is typically 5 to 10 percent in industrial countries, unions tend to equalize the income distribution, especially between skilled and unskilled workers. The welfare loss associated with unions is 0.2 to 0.5 of GDP, in the United States, the National Labor Relations Act covers most collective agreements in the private sector. It is also illegal to require any employee to join a union as a condition of employment, unions are also exempt from antitrust law in the hope that members may collectively fix a higher price for their labour. Once the workers committee and management have agreed on a contract, if approved, the contract is usually in force for a fixed term of years, and when that term is up, it is then renegotiated between employees and management. Sometimes there are disputes over the contract, this particularly occurs in cases of workers fired without just cause in a union workplace

4.
Strike action
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Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances, Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. In most countries, strike actions were made illegal, as factory owners had far more power than workers. Most Western countries partially legalized striking in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, Strikes are sometimes used to pressure governments to change policies. Notable examples are the 1980 Gdańsk Shipyard or 1981 Warning Strike, official publications have typically used the more neutral words work stoppage or industrial dispute. The first historically certain account of action was towards the end of the 20th dynasty. The artisans of the Royal Necropolis at Deir el-Medina walked off their jobs because they had not been paid, the Egyptian authorities raised the wages. An early predecessor of the strike may have been the secessio plebis in ancient Rome. In the Outline Of History, H. G. Wells characterized this event as the strike of the plebeians, the plebeians seem to have invented the strike. The strike action became a feature of the political landscape with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. For the first time in history, large numbers of people were members of the working class, they lived in cities. By the 1830s, when the Chartist movement was at its peak, in 1842 the demands for fairer wages and conditions across many different industries finally exploded into the first modern general strike. Instead of being a spontaneous uprising of the masses, the strike was politically motivated and was driven by an agenda to win concessions. Probably as much as half of the industrial work force were on strike at its peak – over 500,000 men. The local leadership marshalled a growing working class tradition to organize their followers to mount an articulate challenge to the capitalist. Friedrich Engels, an observer in London at the time, wrote, by its numbers, this class has become the most powerful in England, the English proletarian is only just becoming aware of his power, and the fruits of this awareness were the disturbances of last summer. Karl Marx has condemned the theory of Proudhon criminalizing strike action in his work The Poverty of Philosophy, in 1937 there were 4,740 strikes in the United States. This was the greatest strike wave in American labor history, the number of major strikes and lockouts in the U. S. fell by 97% from 381 in 1970 to 187 in 1980 to only 11 in 2010

5.
Labour law
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Labour law mediates the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions and the government. Collective labour law relates to the relationship between employee, employer and union. Individual labour law concerns employees rights at work and through the contract for work, Employment standards are social norms for the minimum socially acceptable conditions under which employees or contractors are allowed to work. Labour law arose in parallel with the Industrial Revolution as the relationship between worker and employer changed from small-scale production studios to large-scale factories, Workers sought better conditions and the right to join a labour union, while employers sought a more predictable, flexible and less costly workforce. The state of law at any one time is therefore both the product of, and a component of struggles between various social forces. As England was the first country to industrialize, it was also the first to face the often appalling consequences of industrial revolution in a less regulated economic framework. This was largely achieved through the pressure from social reformers, notably Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. A serious outbreak of fever in 1784 in cotton mills near Manchester drew widespread public opinion against the use of children in dangerous conditions. A local inquiry presided over by Dr Thomas Percival, was instituted by the justices of the peace for Lancashire, in 1802, the first major piece of labour legislation was passed − the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act. This was the first, albeit modest, step towards the protection of labour, the act limited working hours to twelve a day and abolished night work. It required the provision of a level of education for all apprentices, as well as adequate sleeping accommodation. The Factory Act of 1819 was the outcome of the efforts of the industrialist Robert Owen and prohibited child labour under nine years of age, pivotal in the campaigning for and the securing of this legislation were Michael Sadler and the Earl of Shaftesbury. This act was an important step forward, in that it mandated skilled inspection of workplaces, a lengthy campaign to limit the working day to ten hours was led by Shaftesbury, and included support from the Anglican Church. Many committees were formed in support of the cause and some established groups lent their support as well. The campaign finally led to the passage of the Factory Act of 1847 and these early efforts were principally aimed at limiting child labour. From the mid-19th century, attention was first paid to the plight of working conditions for the workforce in general, in 1850, systematic reporting of fatal accidents was made compulsory, and basic safeguards for health, life and limb in the mines were put in place from 1855. Further regulations, relating to ventilation, fencing of disused shafts, signalling standards, a series of further Acts, in 1860 and 1872 extended the legal provisions and strengthened safety provisions. The same Act included the first comprehensive code of regulation to govern legal safeguards for health, life, the presence of a more certified and competent management and increased levels of inspection were also provided for

6.
Confederation of Mexican Workers
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The Confederation of Mexican Workers is the largest confederation of labor unions in Mexico. For many years, it was one of the pillars of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. However, the CTM began to lose influence within the PRI structure in the late 1980s, as technocrats increasingly held power within the party. Eventually, the union found itself forced to deal with a new party in power after the PRI lost the 2000 general election, over the years the CTM has also lost much of its power within the workplace, increasingly being more agreeable to employers moves aimed to increase productivity. Workers have usually received little benefit from these agreements, as real wages have fallen over the past several decades. Moreover, the CTM has become corrupt and conservative over the years. The CTM was founded on February 21,1936, during the term of President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, cárdenass predecessors had relied heavily on the Confederación Regional Obrera Mexicana, or CROM, in order to garner support from the working class. However, this support was withdrawn after the assassination of President Álvaro Obregón in 1928, once this happened the CROM began to fragment as unions and their leaders defected from the organization. Cárdenas saw an organized labor sector as being essential to the goals of his government, one of the most important leaders who left CROM was Vicente Lombardo Toledano, a Marxist intellectual who later developed close ties with the Soviet Union. Lombardo Toledano formed his own federation of disaffected CROM members, which he called the Purified CROM, once these alliances were consolidated they founded the Confederación General de Obreros y Campesinos de México on June 28,1933. The CGOCM became the most important union body in México, leading a number of strikes in 1934, Cárdenas also called on the CGT and the CSTDF unions to form a single unified body. The CGOCM then transformed itself into the Confederación de Trabajadores de México in response, the CTM almost disintegrated at the moment of its formation, however. At the founding convention of the CTM, the PCM and its unions had been promised the second most powerful position within the CTM secretariat. However, when Lombardo Toledano granted that position to Fidel Velázquez and they returned under pressure with the excuse of preserving unity and grudgingly assented to Velázquezs election. The PCM and its unions almost walked out of the CTM a second time in 1937 and they returned at the urging of Earl Browder, then head of the Communist Party USA, to accept unity at all costs. The CTM formally aligned with the Partido Revolucionario Mexicano, the predecessor of the PRI, as a part of the party in government and therefore effectively part of the state, the CTM received a number of benefits. The Federal Labor Board, which determined which unions could represent workers and whether strikes were legal, the PRM also provided CTM leaders with positions at all levels of government and guaranteed at least one seat in the Mexican Senate for a CTM leader. During his tenure President Cárdenas took steps to ensure that CTM did not acquire enough power as to be able to become independent of the party

7.
Institutional Revolutionary Party
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Though it is a full member of the Socialist International, the PRI is not considered a social democratic party in the traditional sense, its modern policies have been characterized as centrist. Its membership in the Socialist International dates from 1996, along with its rival, the left-wing PRD, they make Mexico one of the few nations with two major, competing parties part of the same international grouping. The PRI is the largest political party in Mexico according to membership, the adherents of the PRI party are known in Mexico as priístas and the party is nicknamed el tricolor because of its use of the colors green, white and red. The current president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, is a member of the PRI, at first glance, the PRIs name looks like a confusing oxymoron or paradox to English speakers since they normally associate the term revolution with the destruction of institutions. In 1990, Peruvian Nobel Prize laureate for literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, even though the armed phase of the Mexican Revolution had ended in 1920, Mexico had continued to encounter political unrest. The intent was to institutionalize the agreements result of Mexican Revolution, in the first years of the partys existence, the PNR was, above all, the only political machine existing. As President of the government, the executive President continued to hold power as in an era known as the Maximato. The following presidents of this period, Emilio Portes Gil, Pascual Ortiz Rubio and this ended with the election of Lázaro Cárdenas, a candidate handpicked by the liberal PNR leaders. Though the now strongly conservative Calles thought he could control him, after establishing himself in the presidency, in 1936 Cárdenas had Calles and dozens of his corrupt associates arrested or deported to the United States. Cárdenass successor Manuel Ávila Camacho gave the party its present name in 1946, from 1929 to 1982, the PRI won every presidential election by well over 70 percent of the vote—margins that were usually obtained by massive electoral fraud. Toward the end of his term, the incumbent president in consultation with party leaders, in essence, given the PRIs overwhelming dominance, the president chose his successor. The PRIs dominance was near-absolute at all levels as well. It held a majority in the Chamber of Deputies, as well as every seat in the Senate. After several decades in power the PRI had become a symbol of corruption, consequently, its left wing went on to form its own party the Party of the Democratic Revolution in 1989. The conservative National Action Party became a party after 1976 when it obtained the support from businessmen after recurring economic crises. Critics claim electoral fraud, with voter suppression and violence, was used when the machine did not work. However, the three major parties now make the claim against each other. Subsequent administrations maintained stability with continued assistance from PRI members such as Secretary of Finance Francisco Gil Diaz, Lázaro Cárdenas renamed the party the Party of the Mexican Revolution whose aim was to establish a democracy of workers and socialism

8.
Mexican Revolution
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The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle c. 1910–1920 that radically transformed Mexican culture and government. Although recent research has focused on local and regional aspects of the Revolution and its outbreak in 1910 resulted from the failure of the 35-year long regime of Porfirio Díaz to find a managed solution to the presidential succession. This meant there was a crisis among competing elites and the opportunity for agrarian insurrection. Madero challenged Díaz in 1910 presidential election, and following the rigged results, armed conflict ousted Díaz from power and a new election was held in 1911, bringing Madero to the presidency. The origins of the conflict were broadly based in opposition to the Díaz regime, with the 1910 election, elements of the Mexican elite hostile to Díaz, led by Madero, expanded to the middle class, the peasantry in some regions, and organized labor. In October 1911, Madero was overwhelmingly elected in a free, Huerta remained in power from February 1913 until July 1914, when he was forced out by a coalition of different regional revolutionary forces. Then the revolutionaries attempt to come to a political agreement following Huertas ouster failed, Zapata was assassinated in 1919, by agents of President Carranza. The armed conflict lasted for the part of a decade, until around 1920. Revolutionary forces unified against Huertas reactionary regime defeated the Federal forces, although the conflict was primarily a civil war, foreign powers that had important economic and strategic interests in Mexico figured in the outcome of Mexicos power struggles. The United States played a significant role. Out of Mexicos population of 15 million, the losses were high, perhaps 1.5 million people died, nearly 200,000 refugees fled abroad, especially to the United States. Politically, the promulgation of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 is seen by scholars as the end point of the armed conflict. The period 1920–1940 is often considered to be a phase of the Revolution, during which power was consolidated, after the presidency of his ally, General Manuel González, Díaz ran for the presidency again and legally remained in office until 1911. The constitution had been amended to allow presidential re-election, Díazs re-election was ironic, since he had challenged Benito Juárez on the platform no re-election. During the Porfiriato there were regular elections although there were contentious irregularities, the contested 1910 election, was a key political event that led to the Mexican Revolution. As Díaz aged, the question of succession became increasingly important. In 1906, the office of president was revived, with Díaz choosing his close ally Ramón Corral from among his Cientifico advisers to serve in the post. By the 1910 election, the Díaz regime had become highly authoritarian and he had been a national hero, opposing the French Intervention in the 1860s and distinguishing himself in the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862

9.
Eight-hour day
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The use of child labour was common. The working day could range from 10 to 16 hours for six days a week, robert Owen had raised the demand for a ten-hour day in 1810, and instituted it in his socialist enterprise at New Lanark. By 1817 he had formulated the goal of the day and coined the slogan, Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation. Women and children in England were granted the day in 1847. French workers won the 12-hour day after the February revolution of 1848, a shorter working day and improved working conditions were part of the general protests and agitation for Chartist reforms and the early organisation of trade unions. Karl Marx saw it as of importance to the workers health, saying in Das Kapital, By extending the working day, therefore. The first international treaty to mention it was the Treaty of Versailles in the annex of its thirteen part establishing the International Labour Office, now the International Labour Organization. The eight-hour day was the first topic discussed by the International Labour Organization which resulted in the Hours of Work Convention,1919 ratified by 52 countries as of 2016. The eight-hour day movement forms part of the history for the celebration of Labour Day. In Iran in 1918, the work of reorganizing the trade began in earnest in Tehran during the closure of the Iranian constitutional parliament Majles. In 1918, the newly organised union staged a 14-day strike and succeeded in reaching an agreement with employers to institute the eight-hours day, overtime pay. The success of the printers union encouraged other trades to organize, in 1919 the bakers and textile-shop clerks formed their own trade unions. In 1946 the council of ministers issued the first labor law for Iran, the first company to introduce an eight-hour working day in Japan was the Kawasaki Dockyards in Kobe. An eight-hour day was one of the demands presented by the workers during pay negotiations in September 1919, after the company resisted the demands, a slowdown campaign was commenced by the workers on 18 September. After ten days of action, company president Kōjirō Matsukata agreed to the eight-hour day and wage increases on 27 September. The effects of the action were felt nationwide and inspired further industrial action at the Kawasaki, the eight-hour day did not become law in Japan until the passing of the Labor Standards Act in April 1947. Article 32 of the Act specifies a 40-hour week and paragraph specifies an eight-hour day, the Eight-hour day was enacted in France by Georges Clemenceau, as a way to avoid unemployment and diminish communist support. It was succeeded by a strong French support of it during the writing of the International Labour Organization Convention of 1919, at the turn of the 20th century the eight-hour day was introduced by Ernst Abbe at the Zeiss plants in Jena

10.
Miguel de la Madrid
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Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado was a Mexican politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party who served as the 52nd President of Mexico from 1982 to 1988. Miguel de la Madrid was born in the city of Colima, Colima and he was the son of the late Miguel de la Madrid Castro a notable lawyer and Alicia Hurtado. His grandfather was Enrique Octavio de la Madrid, the governor of Colima and he worked for the Bank of Mexico and lectured in law at UNAM before he got a position at the Secretariat of Finance in 1965. Between 1970 and 1972, he was employed by Petróleos Mexicanos, Mexicos state-owned petroleum company, in 1976, he was chosen to serve in José López Portillos cabinet as secretary of budget and planning. He was president after López Portillo and he won the elections that took place on July 4,1982, and took office the following December. Inflation increased on an average of 100% a yea and reached to a level of 159% in 1987. The underemployment rate soared to 25% during the mid-1980s, income declined, in January 1986, Mexico entered the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade following its efforts at reforming and decentralising its economy. The number of state-owned industries went down from approximately 1,155 in 1982 to 412 in 1988, as an immediate reaction to the economic crisis, he first presented the Immediate Economic Reorganization Program and, a couple of months later, the National Development Plan. Some of the measures proposed were a reduction of public spending, fiscal reforms, a restructuring of the bureaucracy and his administrations mishandling of the infamous 1985 Mexico City earthquake damaged his popularity because of his initial refusal of international aid. It placed Mexicos delicate path to recovery in an even more precarious situation. The Senate is composed of two senators from each state and two from the Federal District of Mexico, an election of half of its members takes place every three years. The Legislative Assembly of the Federal District of Mexico was created, cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and other politicians from the Institutional Revolutionary Party announced the creation of the Democratic Current within the PRI. The Democratic Current demanded the establishment of rules for the selection of the partys presidential candidate. When they failed, Cárdenas and Porfirio Muñoz Ledo left the PRI and joined the National Democratic Front, on Election Day 1988, a computer system shut down. That event is remembered by the prase se cayó el sistema, when the system was restored, Carlos Salinas was declared the winner. The expression “se cayó el sistema” became a euphemism for electoral fraud, in 1983, the Contadora Group was launched by Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and Mexico to promote peace in Latin America and to deal with the armed conflicts in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. After completing his term, he became the director of the Fondo de Cultura Económica in 1990 and he implanted modernizatin programs in production and administration. It incorporated the most advanced techniques in publishing and graphic arts and maintained the openness

11.
Carlos Salinas de Gortari
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Carlos Salinas de Gortari is a Mexican economist and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party who served as President of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Earlier in his career he worked in the Budget Secretariat eventually becoming Secretary and he was the PRI presidential candidate in 1988, and was declared elected on 6 July 1988. Carlos Salinas was born 3 April 1948, the son and one of five children of economist and government official Raúl Salinas Lozano. Salinass father served as President Adolfo López Mateoss minister of industry and commerce, when Carlos Salinas was chosen the PRIs presidential candidate for the 1988 election, he told his father, It took us more than 20 years, but we made it. A tragedy occurred early in Carlos Salinass life, on 18 December 1951, when he was three years old, he, his older brother Raúl, then five, and an eight-year-old friend were playing and the Salinas familys twelve-year-old maid, Manuela, was shot. It was never determined which of the three boys pulled the trigger and the incident was declared an accident, it was given coverage in Excélsior at the time. A judge blamed the Salinas parents for leaving a loaded weapon accessible to their small children, the Salinas family did not know the last name of their 12-year-old maid Manuela—only that she came from San Pedro Atzcapotzaltongo—and it is unknown whether her family ever claimed her body. He has not commented publicly on this tragic early childhood incident, Salinas attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico as an undergraduate, studying economics. He was an undergraduate when the student movement in Mexico organized against the 1968 Summer Olympics and he was an active member of the PRI youth movement and a political club, the Revolutionary Policy and Professional Association, whose members continued to be his close friends when he was president. Salinas was a skilled horseman, and was a member of the Mexico national team at the Pan-American Games in Cali. Salinas was one of the Mexicans of his generation who studied at foreign universities. He earned a degree in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1973. His doctoral dissertation was published as Political Participation, Public Investment and Support for the System, Carlos Salinas became presidential candidate in a difficult time for the PRI which for the first time was faced by significant opposition from the left and from the right. The candidate of the PAN was Manuel Clouthier, cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano registered as an opposing candidate from a left-wing coalition called Frente Democrático Nacional. The Ministry of the Interior, through its Federal Electoral Commission, was the institution in charge of the electoral process, and installed a modern computing system to count the votes. On July 6,1988, the day of the elections, the crashed. Even though the elections are controversial, and some maintain that Salinas won legally. As one observer put it, For the ordinary citizen, it was not the computer network, the process involved two suspicious shutdowns of the computer system used to keep track of the number of votes

12.
Ernesto Zedillo
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Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León is a Mexican economist and politician. He served as President of Mexico from 1 December 1994 to 30 November 2000, since the ending of his term as president in 2000, Zedillo has been a leading voice on globalization, especially its impact on relations between developed and developing nations. He is currently Director of the Center for the Study of Globalization at Yale University, is the Latin American co-chair of the Inter-American Dialogue, Ernesto Zedillo was born on 27 December 1951 in Mexico City. His parents were Rodolfo Zedillo Castillo, a mechanic, and Martha Alicia Ponce de León, seeking better job and education opportunities for their children, his parents moved to Mexicali, Baja California. In 1965, at the age of 14, he returned to Mexico City, in 1969 he entered the National Polytechnic Institute, financing his studies by working in the National Army and Navy Bank. He graduated as an economist in 1972 and began lecturing and it was among his first group of students that he met his wife, Nilda Patricia Velasco, with whom he has five children, Ernesto, Emiliano, Carlos, Nilda Patricia and Rodrigo. In 1974, he pursued his masters and PhD studies at Yale University and his doctoral thesis was titled Mexicos Public External Debt, Recent History and Future Growth Related to Oil. Zedillo began working in the Bank of Mexico as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, by 1987, he was named deputy-secretary of Planning and Budget Control in the Secretariat of Budget and Planning. In 1988, at the age of 36, he headed that secretariat, during his term as Secretary, Zedillo launched a Science and Technology reform. In 1992 he was appointed Secretary of Education by president Carlos Salinas, a year later he resigned to run the electoral campaign of Luis Donaldo Colosio, the PRIs presidential candidate. In 1994, after Colosios assassination, Zedillo became one of the few PRI members eligible under Mexican law to take his place, since he had not occupied public office for some time, the opposition blamed Colosios murder on Salinas. It is also notable that the assassination took place after Colosio visited the members of the Zapatista movement in Chiapas and promised to open dialogue, after Colosios murder, this speech was seen as the main cause of his break with the president. It is unclear if Salinas had attempted to control Colosio, who was considered at that time to be a far better candidate. Zedillo ran against Diego Fernández de Cevallos of the National Action Party and he won with 48. 69% of popular vote, and became the last president to distinguish the 70-year PRI dynasty in México during the 20th century. A few days after taking office, one of the biggest economic crisis in Mexican history hit the country, although it was outgoing President Salinas who was mainly blamed for the crisis, Salinas claimed that President Zedillo made a mistake by changing the economic policies held by his administration. The crisis ended after a series of reforms and actions led by Zedillo, US president Bill Clinton granted a US$20 billion loan to Mexico, which helped in one of Zedillos initiatives to rescue the banking system. Zedillos presidential motto was Bienestar para tu familia, Zedillo conducted an electoral reform, which lowered the influence of the PRI. In the 1997 elections, for the first time the PRI did not win the majority in Congress, Zedillo also privatized the state railway company, Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México

13.
Vicente Fox
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Vicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican businessman who was President of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006 under the National Action Party. He is also the Co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an organization of center-right political parties. Fox was elected President of Mexico in the 2000 presidential election, madero in 1910 and the first one in 71 years to defeat, with 42 percent of the vote, the Institutional Revolutionary Party. After serving as president of Mexico for six years, President Fox returned to his state of Guanajuato. Since leaving the presidency, Vicente Fox has been involved in public speaking, the alleged increase in his patrimony has raised suspicions of illegal enrichment. He has been excluded from National Action Party activities in 2013, Vicente Fox was born in Mexico City on 2 July 1942, the second of nine children. His father was José Luis Fox Pont, a native-born Mexican, and his mother was Mercedes Quesada Etxaide, a Basque immigrant from San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, in Spain. José Foxs paternal grandfather was born Joseph Louis Fuchs in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Fuchs surname was changed from German during the 1870s to its English equivalent, Fox. The family was unaware of its German origins and they believed the Fox family had their origins in Ireland until it was discovered later in Foxs life. Fox spent his childhood and adolescence at the ranch in San Francisco del Rincón in Guanajuato. He moved to Mexico City to attend the Universidad Iberoamericana and received a degree in business administration in 1964. He earned a diploma in Management Skills from the Harvard Business School in the United States in 1974, in 1964, Fox went to work for the Coca-Cola Company, where he started as a route supervisor, and he drove a delivery truck. He quickly rose in the company to become the supervisor of Coca-Colas operations in Mexico, Fox married a receptionist at Coca-Cola, Lilian de la Concha. They adopted four children, Ana Cristina, Vicente, Paulina, in 1990, after 20 years of marriage, Lilian filed for and was granted a divorce. Fox remarried on 2 July 2001 while in office as President and he married Marta María Sahagún Jiménez. The date was the first anniversary of his election and his 59th birthday. For both, this was their second marriage, after retiring from Coca-Cola, Fox began to participate in various public activities in Guanajuato, where he created the Patronato de la Casa Cuna Amigo Daniel, an orphanage. He was the president of the Patronato Loyola, a sponsor of the León campus of the Universidad Iberoamericana, with the support of Manuel Clouthier, Vicente Fox joined the Partido Acción Nacional on 1 March 1988

14.
North American Free Trade Agreement
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The North American Free Trade Agreement is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1,1994 and it superseded the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement between the U. S. and Canada. NAFTA has two supplements, the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, most economic analyses indicate that NAFTA has been a small net positive for the United States, large net positive for Mexico and had an insignificant impact on Canada. The signed agreement was ratified by each nations legislative or parliamentary branch. The earlier Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement had been controversial and divisive in Canada, in that election, more Canadians voted for anti-free trade parties but the split caused more seats in parliament to be won by the pro-free trade Progressive Conservatives. Mulroney and the PCs had a majority and were easily able to pass the 1987 Canada-U. S. FTA and NAFTA bills. However, he was replaced as Conservative leader and prime minister by Kim Campbell. S and it also required U. S. partners to adhere to environmental practices and regulations similar to its own. After much consideration and emotional discussion, the House of Representatives passed the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act on November 17,1993, the agreements supporters included 132 Republicans and 102 Democrats. The bill passed the Senate on November 20,1993, 61–38, Senate supporters were 34 Republicans and 27 Democrats. Clinton signed it into law on December 8,1993, the agreement went into effect on January 1,1994, Clinton, while signing the NAFTA bill, stated that NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs, if I didnt believe that, I wouldnt support this agreement. The goal of NAFTA was to eliminate barriers to trade and investment between the U. S. The implementation of NAFTA on January 1,1994 brought the elimination of tariffs on more than one-half of Mexicos exports to the U. S. Within 10 years of the implementation of the agreement, all U. S. -Mexico tariffs would be eliminated except for some U. S. agricultural exports to Mexico that were to be phased out within 15 years, most U. S. -Canada trade was already duty-free. NAFTA also sought to eliminate trade barriers and to protect the intellectual property rights on traded products. Chapter 52 provides a procedure for the resolution of disputes over the application and interpretation of NAFTA. It was modelled after Chapter 69 of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, the roster of NAFTA adjudicators includes many retired judges, such as Alice Desjardins, John Maxwell Evans, Constance Hunt, John Richard, Arlin M. Adams, Susan Getzendanner, George C. Pratt, Charles B. Renfrew and Sandra Day OConnor, securing U. S. congressional approval for NAFTA would have been impossible without addressing public concerns about NAFTA’s environmental impact

15.
Oportunidades
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Oportunidades is a government social assistance program in Mexico founded in 2002, based on a previous program called Progresa, created in 1997. It is designed to target poverty by providing cash payments to families in exchange for school attendance, health clinic visits. Oportunidades is credited with decreasing poverty and improving health and educational attainment in regions where it has been deployed, rights holders, Program recipients are mothers, the caregiver directly responsible for children and family health decisions. Cash payments are made from the government directly to families to decrease overhead, a system of evaluation and statistical controls to ensure effectiveness. Rigorous selection of recipients based on geographic and socioeconomic factors, Program requirements target measures considered most likely to lift families out of poverty, focusing on health, nutrition and childrens education. Oportunidades has become a model for programs instituted in countries, such as a pilot program in New York City, the Opportunity NYC. Other countries that have instituted similar conditional cash transfer programs include Brazil, Peru, Honduras, Jamaica, Chile, Malawi, Progresa-Oportunidades is designed to be a centrally run program that relies on a horizontal integration of programs and services among the agencies and ministries in the executive branch. This required the establishment of a body with power to coordinate the participants in the program. Instead of restructuring an old agency, it was decided to form a new agency with all of the appropriate powers, officials in related structures such as the Ministry of Health and Education were not provided with the appropriate incentives to channel their work toward Progresa-Oportunidades. Many were individuals who had worked on poverty programs and who now saw their resources shifting in a new direction. And officials often had more to gain politically from abandoning this program, as a centrally administered program, Oportunidades allows for low operational costs and a greater level of efficiency in the transmission of benefits directly to the participants in the program. The program has sometimes criticized for this completely “top down” approach. To effectively disseminate information about the program, Progresa-Oportunidades pursued a three-pronged strategy, first, an extensive amount of information was made generally available through the Internet. Secondly, information was provided to Congress and other government officials at all levels in the form of detailed proposals, program evaluations. Finally, public campaigns were initially minimal to avoid raised expectations. However, since 2006, the profile of the program has been raised, particularly through extensive radio. Traditionally, most anti-poverty programs in Mexico have relied on support to establish their funding. Several congressional provisions have helped to ensure this identity, among these are several provisions that prevent the program being used for political proselytizing

16.
History of Mexico
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The history of Mexico, a country in the southern portion of North America, covers a period of more than three millennia. First populated more than 13,000 years ago, the territory had complex indigenous civilizations before being conquered and colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century and this era before the arrival of Europeans is called variously the prehispanic era or the precolumbian era. The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan became the Spanish capital Mexico City, from 1521, the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire incorporated the region into the Spanish Empire, with New Spain its colonial era name and Mexico City the center of colonial rule. It was built on the ruins of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, during the colonial era, Mexicos long-established Mesoamerican civilizations mixed with European culture. For three centuries Mexico was part of the Spanish Empire, whose legacy is a country with a Spanish-speaking, Catholic, after a protracted struggle for independence, New Spain became the sovereign nation of Mexico, with the signing of the Treaty of Córdoba. A brief period of monarchy, called the First Mexican Empire, was followed by the founding of the Republic of Mexico, legal racial categories were eliminated, abolishing the system of castas. Slavery was not abolished at independence in 1821 or with the constitution in 1824, Mexico continues to be constituted as a federated republic, under the Mexican Constitution of 1917. The Age of Santa Anna is the period of the late 1820s to the early 1850s that was dominated by criollo military-man-turned-president Antonio López de Santa Anna. In 1846, the Mexican–American War was provoked by the United States, even though Santa Anna bore significant responsibility for the disastrous defeat, he returned to office. The Liberal Reform began with the overthrow of Santa Anna by Mexican liberals, the Reform sparked a civil war between liberals defending the constitution and conservatives, who opposed it. The US was engaged in its own Civil War, so did not attempt to block the foreign intervention, abraham Lincoln consistently supported the Mexican liberals. At the end of the war in the US and the triumph of the Union forces. France withdrew its support of Maximilian in 1867 and his monarchist rule collapsed in 1867, with the end of the Second Mexican Empire, the period often called the Restored Republic brought back Benito Juárez as president. Following his death from an attack, Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada succeed him. He was overthrown by liberal military man Porfirio Diaz, who after consolidating power ushered in a period of stability, the half-century of economic stagnation and political chaos following independence ended. The Porfiriate is the era when army hero Porfirio Díaz held power as president of Mexico almost continuously from 1876-1911 and he promoted order and progress that saw the modernization of the economy and the flow of foreign investment to the country. The period is called the Porfiriato, which ended with the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Under Díaz, Mexicos industry and infrastructure were modernized by a strong, stable, increased tax revenues and better administration brought dramatic improvements in public safety, public health, railways, mining, industry, foreign trade, and national finances

17.
Pre-Columbian Mexico
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While relatively few documents of the Mixtec and Aztec cultures of the Post-Classic period survived the Spanish conquest, more progress has been made in the area of Mayan archaeology and epigraphy. It is currently unclear whether 21, 000-year-old campfire remains found in the Valley of Mexico are the earliest human remains in Mexico, indigenous peoples of Mexico began to selectively breed maize plants around 8000 BC. Evidence shows an increase in pottery working by 2300 B. C. Between 1800 and 300 BC, complex cultures began to form and these civilizations are credited with many inventions and advancements including pyramid-temples, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and theology. Archaic inscriptions on rocks and rock walls all over northern Mexico demonstrate a propensity for counting in Mexico. In fact, many of the later Mexican-based civilizations would carefully build their cities, astronomy and the notion of human observation of celestial events would become central factors in the development of religious systems, writing systems, fine arts, and architecture. Prehistoric Mexican astronomers began a tradition of observing, recording. At some different points in time, three Mexican cities were among the largest cities in the world and these cities and several others blossomed as centers of commerce, ideas, ceremonies, and theology. In turn, they radiated influence outward into neighboring cultures in central Mexico, cultural groups that flourished partially within the borders of modern-day Mexico include the Mogollon, Patayan, and Hohokam. These Oasisamerica civilizations maintained close ties with those of Mesoamerica, evidenced by turquoise trade, macaws, copper, cacao, and cultural exchange. For example, in Paquimé, a site connected to the Mogollon culture, there have been found ceremonial structures related to Mesoamerican religion and these civilizations extended their reach across Mexico, and beyond, like no others. They consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, other regional power players made economic and political alliances with these five civilizations over the span of 3,000 years. But almost all found themselves within these five spheres of influence and their immediate cultural influence, however, extends far beyond this region. The Olmec flourished during the Formative period, dating from 1400 BCE to about 400 BCE, the decline of the Olmec resulted in a power vacuum in Mexico. Emerging from that vacuum was Teotihuacan, first settled in 300 B. C, by AD150, it had grown to become the first true metropolis of what is now called North America. Teotihuacan established a new economic and political order never before seen in Mexico and its influence stretched across Mexico into Central America, founding new dynasties in the Mayan cities of Tikal, Copan, and Kaminaljuyú. Teotihuacans influence over the Maya civilization cannot be overstated, it transformed political power, artistic depictions, within the city of Teotihuacan was a diverse and cosmopolitan population. Most of the ethnicities of Mexico were represented in the city

18.
New Spain
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New Spain was a colonial territory of the Spanish Empire, in the New World north of the Isthmus of Panama. It was established following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521, after 1535 the colony was governed by the Viceroy of New Spain, an appointed minister of the King of Spain, who ruled as monarch over the colony. The capital of New Spain was Mexico City and it developed highly regional divisions, which reflect the impact of climate, topography, the presence or absence of dense indigenous populations, and the presence or absence of mineral resources. The areas of central and southern Mexico had dense indigenous populations with complex social, political, silver mining not only became the engine of the economy of New Spain, but vastly enriched Spain, and transformed the global economy. New Spain was the New World terminus of the Philippine trade, although New Spain was a dependency of Spain, it was a kingdom not a colony, subject to the presiding monarch on the Iberian Peninsula. Every privilege and position, economic political, or religious came from him and it was on this basis that the conquest, occupation, and government of the New World was achieved. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was established in 1535 in the Kingdom of New Spain and it was the first New World viceroyalty and one of only two in the Spanish empire until the 18th century Bourbon Reforms. The Spanish Empire comprised the territories in the north overseas Septentrion, from North America, to the west of the continent, New Spain also included the Spanish East Indies. To the east of the continent, it included the Spanish West Indies and this was not occupied by many Spanish settlers and were considered more marginal to Spanish interests than the most densely populated and lucrative areas of central Mexico. To shore up its claims in North America starting in the late 18th century, Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest explored and claimed the coast of what is now British Columbia and Alaska. The indigenous societies of Mesoamerica brought under Spanish control were of unprecedented complexity, the societies could provide the conquistadors, especially Hernán Cortés, a base from which the conquerors could become autonomous, or even independent, of the Crown. As a result, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, since the time of the Catholic Monarchs, central Iberia was governed through councils appointed by the monarch with particular jurisdictions. Thus, the creation of the Council of the Indies became another, the crown had set up the Casa de Contratación in 1503 to regulate contacts between Spain and its overseas possessions. A key function was to gather information about navigation to make trips less risky and they were accompanied by maps of the area discussed, many of which were drawn by indigenous artists. The Francisco Hernández Expedition, the first scientific expedition to the New World, was sent to gather information medicinal plants, an earlier Audiencia had been established in Santo Domingo in 1526 to deal with the Caribbean settlements. That Audiencia, housed in the Casa Reales in Santo Domingo, was charged with encouraging further exploration, management by the Audiencia, which was expected to make executive decisions as a body, proved unwieldy. Therefore, in 1535, King Charles V named Don Antonio de Mendoza as the first Viceroy of New Spain. After the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 opened up the vast territories of South America to further conquests, the Crown established an independent Viceroyalty of Peru there in 1540

19.
Mexican War of Independence
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The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict, and the culmination of a political and social process which ended the rule of Spain in 1821 in the territory of New Spain. September 16 is celebrated as Mexican Independence Day, the movement for independence was inspired by the Age of Enlightenment and the liberal revolutions of the last part of the 18th century. By that time the elite of New Spain had begun to reflect on the relations between Spain and its colonial kingdoms. Changes in the social and political structure occasioned by Bourbon Reforms, political events in Europe had a decisive effect on events in most of Spanish America. In 1808, King Charles IV and Ferdinand VII abdicated in favor of French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, the same year, the ayuntamiento of Mexico City, supported by viceroy José de Iturrigaray, claimed sovereignty in the absence of the legitimate king. That led to a coup against the viceroy, when it was suppressed, despite the defeat in Mexico City, small groups of conspirators met in other cities of New Spain to raise movements against colonial rule. From 1810 the independence movement went through stages, as leaders were imprisoned or executed by forces loyal to Spain. Secular priest José María Morelos called the separatist provinces to form the Congress of Chilpancingo, after the defeat of Morelos, the movement survived as a guerrilla war under the leadership of Vicente Guerrero. By 1820, the few rebel groups survived most notably in the Sierra Madre del Sur, the reinstatement of the liberal Constitution of Cadiz in 1820 caused a change of mind among the elite groups who had supported Spanish rule. Monarchist Creoles affected by the constitution decided to support the independence of New Spain, agustín de Iturbide led the military arm of the conspirators and in early 1821 he met Vicente Guerrero. Both proclaimed the Plan of Iguala, which called for the union of all insurgent factions and was supported by both the aristocracy and clergy of New Spain and it called for monarchy in an independent Mexico. Finally, the independence of Mexico was achieved on September 27,1821, after that, the mainland of New Spain was organized as the Mexican Empire. This ephemeral Catholic monarchy changed to a republic in 1823, due to internal conflicts. After some Spanish reconquest attempts, including the expedition of Isidro Barradas in 1829, after the suppression of that mid-16th-century conspiracy, elites raised no substantial challenge to royal rule until the Hidalgo revolt of 1810. Elites in Mexico City in the century did force the removal of a reformist viceroy. The crowd was reported to shout, Long live the King, the attack was against Gelves as a bad representative of the crown and not against the monarchy or colonial rule itself. There was also a conspiracy in the mid-seventeenth century to unite creole elites, blacks. The man pushing this notion called himself Don Guillén Lampart y Guzmán, lamports conspiracy was discovered, and he was arrested by the Inquisition in 1642, and executed fifteen years later for sedition

20.
First Mexican Empire
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The Mexican Empire was a short-lived monarchy and the first independent post-colonial state in Mexico. It was the former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence and for a short time, together with the Empire of Brazil. The First Mexican Empire was short-lived, lasting less than two years, the first and only monarch of the state was Agustín de Iturbide, reigning as Agustín I of Mexico, for less than eight months. The empire was briefly reestablished by the French in 1864, under the 24 February 1821 Plan of Iguala, to which most of the provinces subscribed, the Mexican Congress established a regency council which was headed by Iturbide. If the king refused the position, the law provided for another member of the House of Bourbon to accede to the Mexican throne, however, the goal was merely a political tactic to appease the last royalists, and a full independence was expected. King Ferdinand, however, refused to recognize Mexicos independence and said that Spain would not allow any other European prince to take the throne of Mexico, on 19 May 1822, Mexican Congress named Iturbide as a constitutional emperor. On 21 May it issued a decree confirming this appointment, which was officially a temporary measure until a European monarch could be found to rule Mexico, iturbides official title was, By Divine Providence and the National Congress, First Constitutional Emperor of Mexico. His coronation took place on 21 July 1822 in Mexico City, in August 1822 a plot to overthrow the monarchy was discovered and on August 25, plotters, including 16 members of Congress, were arrested. As factions in the Congress began to sharply criticise Iturbide and his policies, santa Anna and his troops revolted against Iturbide, calling for the restoration of the Congress on 1 December 1822. Santa Anna had secretly persuaded General Echávarri, the commander of the Imperial forces, to switch sides and support the revolution when it was ready to be proclaimed throughout Mexico. The independence heroes Vicente Guerrero, Nicolás Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria soon joined, signing the Plan of Casa Mata on February 1,1823, the insurrectionists sent their proposal to the provincial governments and requested their adherence to the plan. In the course of just six weeks, the Plan of Casa Mata traveled to remote places as Texas. Each provincial government that accepted the plan thereby withdrew its allegiance from the Imperial government and this left Emperor Agustín I isolated with little support outside of Mexico City and a few factions of the Imperial Army. Consequently, he reinstalled the Congress, which he had abolished, abdicated the throne. Santa Anna and the proponents of the Plan of Casa Mata went on to oversee the drafting of a new constitution. The territory of the Mexican Empire corresponded to the borders of Viceroyalty of New Spain, excluding the Captaincies General of Cuba, Santo Domingo, subsequent territorial evolution of Mexico over the next several decades would eventually reduce Mexico to less than half its maximum extent. The first Mexican empire was divided into the following intendances, History of Mexico Second Mexican Empire Federal Republic of Central America Imperial House of Mexico Mexican Empire

21.
First Mexican Republic
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For the current entity named United Mexican States, see Mexico. The First Federal Republic was a period in Mexican history corresponding to the first time in both, republic and federation were established as form of government in the Mexican nation. The republic was proclaimed on November 1,1823 by Constituent Congress, the federation was formally and legally established on October 4,1824 when the Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States came into force. That caused a severe political instability and violence, the republic was ruled by two triumvirates and nine presidents. Guadalupe Victoria, was the president who completed his full term in this period. On October 23,1835, after the repeal of the Constitution of 1824, the unitary regime was formally established on December 30,1836, with the enactment of the seven constitutional laws. In December 1822, Generals Antonio López de Santa Anna and Guadalupe Victoria wrote and this was an agreement between these two generals, amongst other Mexican generals, governors, and high-ranking governmental officials, to abolish the monarchy and replace it with a republic. Several insurrections arose in the Mexican provinces beginning in December, but they were all put down by the Imperial Army and this was because Santa Anna had previously made a secret agreement with General Echávarri, the commander of the Imperial forces. By this agreement, the Plan of Casa Mata was to be proclaimed throughout Mexico on February 1,1823 and this plan did not recognize the First Mexican Empire and called for the convening of a new Constituent Congress. The insurrectionists sent their proposal to the delegations and requested their adherence to the plan. In the course of just six weeks, the Plan of Casa Mata travelled to remote places as Texas. On September 27,1821, after three centuries of Spanish rule and an 11-year war of independence, Mexico obtained its sovereignty, the Treaty of Córdoba recognized New Spain as an independent empire, which took the name of the Mexican Empire. A minority of the Constituent Congress in search of stability chose as monarch the general Agustín de Iturbide who had led the war effort against Spain and he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on May 18,1822. Soon after, problems arose between the emperor and the Constituent Congress, Antonio López de Santa Anna proclaimed the Plan of Casa Mata, which was later joined by Vicente Guerrero and Nicolás Bravo. Iturbide was then forced to reinstate the Congress, and in a attempt to save the order and keep the situation favorable to his supporters. However, the restored Congress declared the appointment of Iturbide void ab initio, on 8 April, the Congress declared the Plan of Iguala and the Treaty of Córdoba void as well. With that the Empire was dissolved and the country declared its freedom to establish itself as it saw fit, several states openly rebelled against these changes. Northern Coahuila y Tejas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Yucatán, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas all disapproved

22.
Centralist Republic of Mexico
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The Centralist Republic of Mexico, officially the Mexican Republic was a unitary political regime established in Mexico on October 23,1835, after the repeal of the Constitution of 1824. Like Spanish moderados, the Mexican conservatives were inspired by the ideal of a centralized, the unitary regime was formally established on December 30,1836, with the enactment of the seven constitutional laws. The centralist Republic lasted for almost eleven years, on August 22,1846, acting President José Mariano Salas, issued the decree that restored the Constitution of 1824 and with this, the return to federalism. The Mexican Republic was governed by eleven presidents, none were to finish their term before the Republics dissolution. In 1835, the party established a Congress which was declared constitutional. On December 30,1836, the seven laws, which established the system of governmental. The constitutional laws of the Mexican Republic, better known as the seven laws were a series of laws of a nature which replaced the Constitution of 1824. The 15 articles of the first law granted citizenship to those who could read and had an income of 100 pesos, except for domestic workers. The second law allowed the President to close Congress and suppress the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, military officers were not allowed to assume this office. The 58 articles of the law established a bicameral Congress of Deputies and Senators. Deputies had four-year terms, Senators were elected for six years, the seventh law prohibited reverting to the pre-reform laws for six years. The seven laws were enacted by the interim President of Mexico, José Justo Corro, the revolt in Zacatecas was the first rebellion caused by attempts to centralize the Affairs of States. The rebellion began as a response to the order of the Government disintegrating bodies of militia, the rebellion was led by Governor Francisco García Salinas, who led an army of about four thousand men against the even federal Government. Antonio López de Santa Anna, President at the time, personally fought the revolt, the Governor García Salinas, was defeated in the battle of Zacatecas. As punishment to the rebelliousness of Zacatecas, Aguascalientes party was separated and declared on 23 May 1835 Federation territory, the Texan Revolution began in the battle of Gonzales on October 2,1835. The discontent of the American settlers began almost as soon as they settled in the State of Coahuila, as a result of the rebellion of 1827 Fredonia was decreed on April 6,1830 laws that increased the discontent of the colonists. In 1831, the Mexican authorities gave Gonzalez settlers a small cannon to protect themselves from frequent Comanche raids. Due to the order of the Government disintegrating bodies of militia, Colonel Domingo Ugartechea, Commander of Mexican troops in Texas, on 1 October, settlers voted to start a fight and refused to return the barrel

23.
Texas Revolution
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The Texas Revolution began when colonists in the Mexican province of Texas rebelled against the increasingly centralized Mexican government. After a decade of political and cultural clashes between the Mexican government and the large population of American settlers in Texas, hostilities erupted in October 1835. Texians disagreed on whether the goal was independence or a return to the Mexican Constitution of 1824. While delegates at the Consultation debated the wars motives, Texians, the Consultation declined to declare independence and installed an interim government, whose infighting led to political paralysis and a dearth of effective governance in Texas. An ill-conceived proposal to invade Matamoros siphoned much-needed volunteers and provisions from the fledgling Texas army, in March 1836, a second political convention declared independence and appointed leadership for the new Republic of Texas. Determined to avenge Mexicos honor, President Antonio López de Santa Anna vowed to personally retake Texas and his Army of Operations entered Texas in mid-February 1836 and found the Texians completely unprepared. Mexican General José de Urrea led a contingent of troops on the Goliad Campaign up the Texas coast, defeating all Texian troops in his path and executing most of those who surrendered. Santa Anna led a force to San Antonio de Béxar. On March 31, Houston paused his men at Groces Landing on the Brazos River, becoming complacent and underestimating the strength of his foes, Santa Anna further subdivided his troops. On April 21, Houstons army staged an assault on Santa Anna. The Mexican troops were routed, and vengeful Texians executed many who tried to surrender. Santa Anna was taken hostage, in exchange for his life, Mexico refused to recognize the Republic of Texas, and intermittent conflicts between the two countries continued into the 1840s. The annexation of Texas as the 28th state of the United States, in 1845, after a failed attempt by France to colonize Texas in the late 17th century, Spain developed a plan to settle the region. On its southern edge, along the Medina and Nueces Rivers, on the east, Texas bordered Louisiana. Following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States also claimed the land west of the Sabine River, following the Mexican War of Independence, Texas became part of Mexico. Under the Constitution of 1824, which defined the country as a federal republic, Texas was granted only a single seat in the state legislature, which met in Saltillo, hundreds of miles away. Texas was very sparsely populated, with fewer than 3,500 residents, and only about 200 soldiers, in the hopes that an influx of settlers could control the Indian raids, the bankrupt Mexican government liberalized immigration policies for the region. Finally able to settle legally in Texas, Anglos from the United States soon vastly outnumbered the Tejanos, most of the immigrants came from the southern United States

24.
Pastry War
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It ended several months later in March 1839 with a British-brokered peace. The intervention followed many claims by French nationals of losses due to unrest in Mexico, during the early years of the new Mexican republic there was widespread civil disorder as factions competed for control of the country. The fighting often resulted in the destruction or looting of private property, average citizens had few options for claiming compensation as they had no representatives to speak on their behalf. However, France had yet to secure trade agreements similar to those that the United States and England had, in complaint to King Louis-Philippe, a French pastry chef known only as Monsieur Remontel, claimed that in 1832 Mexican officers looted his shop in Tacubaya. Remontel demanded 60,000 pesos as reparations for the damage, French forces captured Veracruz by December 1838 and Mexico declared war on France. With trade cut off, the Mexicans began smuggling imports via Corpus Christi, Republic of Texas, fearing that France would blockade the Republics ports as well, a battalion of Texan forces began patrolling Corpus Christi Bay to stop Mexican smugglers. One smuggling party abandoned their cargo of about a hundred barrels of flour on the beach at the mouth of the bay and he offered his services to the government, which ordered him to fight the French by any means necessary. He led Mexican forces against the French, in a skirmish with the rear guard of the French, Santa Anna was wounded in the leg by French grapeshot. His leg was amputated and buried with military honors. Exploiting his wounds with eloquent propaganda, Santa Anna catapulted back to power, the French forces withdrew on 9 March 1839 after a peace treaty was signed. As part of said treaty the Mexican government agreed to pay 600,000 pesos as damages to French citizens while France received promises for future trade commitments in place of war indemnities. However, this amount was never paid and that was used as one of the justifications for the second French intervention in Mexico of 1861. Media related to Pastry War at Wikimedia Commons

25.
Second Federal Republic of Mexico
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For the current entity named United Mexican States, see Mexico. The Second Federal Republic of Mexico is the given to the second attempt to achieve a federalist government in Mexico. Officially called the United Mexican States, a republic was implemented again on August 22,1846 when interim president José Mariano Salas issued a decree restoring the 1824 constitution. Other events during this period were the dictatorship of Santa Anna, the sale of the Mesilla Valley, during this period, there were two international conflicts, the conclusion of the war between Mexico and the United States and the war with France. The Federal Republic lasted almost 17 years and was ruled by 14 presidents, the Republic was dissolved on July 10,1863 with the decree of a change of government to a model of hereditary monarchy, this began the Second Mexican Empire, ruled by Maximilian I. In the midst of war with the United States, Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga staged a coup against the government of interim President José Joaquín de Herrera, shortly afterwards, the Congress appointed him as interim president, the vice presidency went to Nicolás Bravo. On July 28,1846 Mariano Paredes left the presidency to command the army in battle against the Americans, on August 4 the federalists led an uprising, causing the resignation of President Bravo. Mariano Salas took office as president on August 6, on August 22, he reestablished the 1824 Constitution. With the constitution again in force, centralism ended and the system was restored. The war between Mexico and the United States officially began on May 13,1846, but there had already been battles before that date, Mexico, in turn, declared war on the United States on May 23. The main US force continued through to the Rio Grande and into Mexico, on December 24, the Congress declared Antonio López de Santa Anna acting president and Valentín Gómez Farías vice president. Gómez Farías assumed the presidency in place of Santa Anna, who was fighting the US, after the battles of Angostura, Padierna, Churubusco and Molino del Rey, the Castle of Chapultepec was defended by young cadets who became known as Niños Héroes. During the assault, the generals were taken prisoner. The fall of Chapultepec had two consequences, the US occupation of Mexico City and the resignation of Santa Anna from the presidency on September 16,1847. Following the resignation of Santa Anna, Manuel de la Peña y Peña assumed the office, on September 26 he established the seat of federal power in Toluca and in Querétaro, where Congress convened. On November 11, De la Peña left office to serve as chancellor and negotiate peace with the United States Congress, Anaya, refusing to satisfy the land claims of the United States, resigned on January 8,1848. Manuel de la Pena y Pena was again named provisional president, on February 2 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, in which Mexico ceded 2,400,000 square kilometres of territory. De la Peña was able to save for Mexico the Baja Peninsula and its union by land with Sonora, Manuel de la Pena y Pena called for elections, Congress chose José Joaquin de Herrera, who took over as president June 3,1848

26.
Reform War
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The War of the Reform is one of many episodes of the long struggle between Liberal and Conservative forces that dominated the country’s history in the 19th century. The Liberals wanted to eliminate the political, economic, and cultural power of the Catholic church as well as undermine the role of the Mexican Army, both the Catholic Church and the Army were protected by corporate or institutional privileges established in the colonial era. Liberals sought to create a modern nation-state founded on liberal principles, the liberals passed a series of separate laws implementing their vision of Mexico, and then promulgated the Constitution of 1857, which gave constitutional force to their program. The Liberals lack military experience and lost most of the early battles, Liberal victories accumulated thereafter until Conservative forces surrendered in December 1860. After the end of the Mexican War of Independence, the country was divided as it tried to recover from more than a decade of fighting. From 1821-57,50 different governments ruled the country and these included dictatorships, constitutional republican governments and a monarchy. The political division was divided into two groups, the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Liberal political movements had their beginnings in the meetings of the Freemasonry. The secret nature of the society allowed for discreet political discussion, Conservatives favored a strong centralized government, with many wanting a European-style monarchy. Conservatives favored protecting many of the institutions inherited from the period, including tax and legal exemptions for the Catholic Church. Liberals favored the establishment of a federalist republic based on ideas coming out of the European Enlightenment, until the end of the Reform period Mexico’s history would be dominated by these two factions vying for control and fighting against foreign incursions at the same time. The Reform Era of Mexican history is defined from 1855-76. In the 1850s the Liberal ousted Antonio López de Santa Anna under the Plan of Ayutla in 1855 and this ascendancy came after the loss of about half of Mexico’s national territory to the US in the Mexican–American War. Liberals believed that the power of the Roman Catholic Church. The Liberals challenge to the Catholic Churchs hegemony in Mexico came about in stages even before the 1850s and this included Catholic newspapers such as La Cruz and conservative groups that strongly attacked Liberal policies and ideology. This ideology had roots in the European Enlightenment, which sought to reduce the role of the Catholic Church in society. The Reforms began in the 1830s and 1840s coalesced into the laws of the Reform era. The 1857 Constitution of Mexico was promulgated near the end of the first phase, more Reform laws were passed from 1861–63 and after 1867 when the Liberals emerged victorious after two civil wars with Conservative opponents

27.
Second French intervention in Mexico
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It followed President Benito Juárezs suspension of interest payments to foreign countries on 17 July 1861, which angered these three major creditors of Mexico. Emperor Napoleon III of France was the instigator, justifying military intervention by claiming a broad foreign policy of commitment to free trade, for him, a friendly government in Mexico would ensure European access to Latin American markets. Napoleon also wanted the silver that could be mined in Mexico to finance his empire, Napoleon built a coalition with Spain and Britain while the U. S. was deeply engaged in its civil war. The three European powers signed the Treaty of London on 31 October 1861, to unite their efforts to receive payments from Mexico, on 8 December the Spanish fleet and troops arrived at Mexicos main port, Veracruz. When the British and Spanish discovered that France planned to all of Mexico. The subsequent French invasion resulted in the Second Mexican Empire, after heavy guerrilla resistance led by Juárez, which continued even after the capital had fallen in 1863, the French eventually withdrew from Mexico and Maximilian I was executed in 1867. The British, Spanish and French fleets arrived at Veracruz, between 8 and 17 December 1861 intending to pressure the Mexicans into settling their debts, the Spanish fleet seized San Juan de Ulúa and subsequently the capital Veracruz on 17 December. The European forces advanced to Orizaba, Cordoba and Tehuacán, as they had agreed in the Convention of Soledad, the city of Campeche surrendered to the French fleet on 27 February 1862, and a French army, commanded by General Lorencez, arrived on 5 March. When the Spanish and British realised the French ambition was to conquer Mexico, they withdrew their forces on 9 April, in May, the French man-of-war Bayonnaise blockaded Mazatlán for a few days. Mexican forces commanded by General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the French army in the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862, the pursuing Mexican army was contained by the French at Orizaba, Veracruz, on 14 June. More French troops arrived on 21 September, and General Bazaine arrived with French reinforcements on 16 October, the French occupied the port of Tampico on 23 October, and unopposed by Mexican forces took control of Xalapa, Veracruz on 12 December. The French bombarded Veracruz on 15 January 1863, two months later, on 16 March, General Forey and the French Army began the siege of Puebla. They were forced to make a defence in a nearby hacienda, danjou was mortally wounded at the hacienda, and his men mounted an almost suicidal bayonet attack, fighting to nearly the last man, only three French Legionnaires survived. To this day, the anniversary of 30 April remains the most important day of celebration for Legionnaires. The French army of General François Achille Bazaine defeated the Mexican army led by General Comonfort in its campaign to relieve the siege of Puebla, at San Lorenzo, Puebla surrendered to the French shortly afterward, on 17 May. On 31 May, President Juárez fled the city with his cabinet, retreating northward to Paso del Norte, having taken the treasure of the state with them, the government-in-exile remained in Chihuahua until 1867. French troops under Bazaine entered Mexico City on 7 June 1863, the main army entered the city three days later led by General Forey. General Almonte was appointed the provisional President of Mexico on 16 June, the Superior Junta with its 35 members met on 21 June, and proclaimed a Catholic Empire on 10 July

28.
Second Mexican Empire
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It was created with the support of Napoleon III of France, who attempted to establish a monarchist ally in the Americas. A referendum confirmed the coronation of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, the Empire came to an end on June 19,1867, with the execution of Emperor Maximilian I. The rule of Emperor Maximilian was blemished by constant conflict, the two factions had set up parallel governments, the Conservatives in Mexico City controlling central Mexico and the Liberals in Veracruz. The United States government viewed Emperor Maximilian as a French puppet and they demanded the withdrawal of French forces, and France acceded. In 1867, the fell and Maximilian was executed at the orders of Benito Juárez. Maximilian proved to be too liberal for the conservatives, and too conservative for the liberals and he regarded Mexico as his destiny and made many contributions. Before his death, Maximilian adopted the grandsons of the first Mexican emperor, Agustín de Iturbide, Agustín de Iturbide y Green, Napoleon III had more ambitious goals in mind than merely the recovery of Frances debts. Heavily influenced by his wife the Empress Eugenie, he was bent on reviving the Mexican monarchy. Prior to 1861 any interference in the affairs of Mexico by any of the European powers would have viewed as a challenge to the United States. However, in 1861 the United States was embroiled in its own bloody conflict, the American Civil War, encouraged by the Empress Eugenie, who saw herself as the champion of the Catholic Church in Mexico, Napoleon III took advantage of the situation. Napoleon III saw the opportunity to make France the great modernizing influence in the Western Hemisphere as well as enabling the country to capture the South American markets. To give him encouragement, there was his half brother, the duc de Morny. 1832, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian born on 6 July, the son of Archduke Franz Karl and his wife Sophie in Schönbrunn Palace. 1851, Begins career in the Imperial and Royal Navy with the rank of lieutenant,1856, The construction of his castle of Miramar near the Adriatic port of Trieste began. 1857, Ferdinand Max appointed the governor-general of the northern Italian provinces of Lombardy-Venetia, on 27 July marries the Princess Charlotte of Belgium in Brussels. 1859, On 19 April relieved of his post as governor-general, War breaks out with France and Piedmont-Sardinia. 1861, Napoleon III suggests Maximilian as a candidate for the throne of Mexico,1863, In October a Mexican delegation arrives at Miramar to offer Maximilian and Charlotte the crown. Maximilian makes his acceptance conditional on a plebiscite in his favor

29.
Cristero War
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The rebellion was set off by enactment under President Plutarco Elías Calles of a statute to enforce the anticlerical articles of the Mexican Constitution of 1917. Calles sought to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church and organizations affiliated with it as an institution, the massive, popular rural uprising was tacitly supported by the Church hierarchy and was aided by urban Catholic support. US Ambassador Dwight W. Morrow brokered negotiations between the Calles government and the Church, the government made some concessions, the Church withdrew its support for the Cristero fighters and the conflict ended in 1929. The Mexican Revolution remains the largest conflict in Mexican history, the overthrow of dictator Porfirio Díaz unleashed disorder, with many contending factions and regions. Having a change of leadership or a wholesale overturning of the order was potentially a danger to the Churchs position. In the democratizing wave of activity, the National Catholic Party was formed. Francisco Madero was overthrown and assassinated in a February 1913 military coup led by Gen, the Constitutionalist faction won the revolution and its leader, Venustiano Carranza, had a new revolutionary constitution drawn up. The Constitution of 1917 strengthened the anticlericalism of the previous document, neither President Carranza nor his successor, Gen. Alvaro Obregón, enforced the anticlerical articles. The Calles administration felt its revolutionary initiatives and legal basis to pursue them were being challenged by the Catholic Church, on the opposing side was an armed professional military sponsored by the government. Calles’ Mexico has been characterized as an atheist state, and his program as being one to religion in Mexico. A period of resistance to the enforcement of the anticlerical provisions of the constitution by Mexican Catholics brought no result. Skirmishing broke out in 1926, and violent uprisings began in 1927, the rebels called themselves Cristeros, invoking the name of Jesus Christ under the title of Cristo Rey or Christ the King. The rebellion eventually ended by diplomatic means brokered by the U. S. Ambassador to Mexico Dwight Whitney Morrow, with financial relief, the rebellion attracted the attention of Pope Pius XI, who issued a series of papal encyclicals between 1925–37. On December 11,1925, the pontiff issued Quas primas, on November 18,1926, he issued Iniquis afflictisque, denouncing the violent anti-clerical persecution in Mexico. Despite the governments promises to the contrary, it continued the persecution of the Church, in response, Pius issued Acerba animi on September 29,1932. The Political Constitution of the United Mexican States was drafted by the Constitutional Congress convoked by Venustiano Carranza in September 1916, the new constitution was based in the previous one instituted by Benito Juárez in 1857. Three of its 136 articles—Article 3, Article 27 and Article 130—contain heavily secularizing sections, restricting the power, the first two sections of article 3 state, I. According to the liberties established under article 24, educational services shall be secular and, therefore

30.
Chiapas conflict
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The Zapatista uprising started in January 1994, lasting for less than two weeks, before being crushed by the government. This resulted in a division between communities with ties to the government and communities that sympathized with the Zapatistas. Social tensions, armed conflict and para-military incidents increased, culminating in the killing of 45 people in the village of Acteal in 1997 by para-militaries, though at a low level, rebel activity continues and violence occasionally erupts between Zapatista supporters and anti-Zapatista militias along with the government. The last related incident occurred in 2014, with a Zapatista-affiliated teacher killed and 15 more wounded in Chiapas. Mexico still has slavery problems today, the same issue appeared amongst the non-Criollos population in later years, especially among the Mestizo population during the 19th century. Consequently, removed from the overall Mexican economic system, the native Mayan Indian nation remained as a free, since the 1980s and 1990s, Mexicos economic policy concentrated more on industrial development and attracting foreign capital. The Salinas government initiated a process of privatization of land and this undermined the basic security of indigenous communities to land entitlement, and former ejidatorios now became formally illegal land-squatters, and their communities informal settlements. In the Lacandon jungle in Chiapas, a rebellion began to take shape against the marginalization of the population, the 1992 amendment to the Constitution. On 1 January 1994, the day on which NAFTA became operational, the EZLN seized five villages in the state. The government responded by calling in the forces to retake the areas,12 days of fighting ensued until a ceasefire was declared. These developments attracted a lot of international attention, the government will need to eliminate the Zapatistas to demonstrate their effective control of the national territory and of security policy. To break the peace negotiations were started in March 1995 in the village of San Andrés Larráinzar. In 1996 the Comisión de Concordia y Pacificación presented a proposal of constitutional reform based on the San Andrés Accords to the EZLN and the federal government. As a gesture of political will to solve the conflict peacefully the Zedillo-government signed this proposal, thereby recognizing the indigenous culture and its right to land and these agreements however were not complied with in the following years and the peace process stagnated. This resulted in a division between people and communities with ties to the government and communities that sympathized with the Zapatistas. Social tensions, armed conflict and para-military incidents increased, culminating in the killing of 45 people in the village of Acteal in 1997 by para-militaries, internationally this atrocity led to great upheaval. The European Parliament even proposed to postpone the ratification of the agreement, nevertheless, the treaty with the European Commission came into effect on July 1,2000, one day before presidential elections in Mexico were scheduled. When Fox entered office in November 2000, he pledged to honour the San Andrés Accords, to enforce their demands in Congress, the Zapatistas organized a march to the capital in March 2001. This new law was criticized by the International Labour Organization for violating ILO-convention 169, the EZLN felt betrayed and suspended all dialogue with the government, and the Zapatistas unilaterally installed the self-determination Juntas de Buen Gobierno in 2003

31.
Mexican Drug War
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The Mexican Drug War is the Mexican theater of the United States War on Drugs, involving an ongoing low-intensity asymmetric war between the Mexican Government and various drug trafficking syndicates. Since 2006, when the Mexican military began to intervene, the principal goal has been to reduce the drug-related violence. Additionally, the Mexican government has claimed that their focus is on dismantling the powerful drug cartels, rather than on preventing drug trafficking. Mexican drug cartels now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market and in 2007 controlled 90% of the entering the United States. Arrests of key leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, has led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States. Analysts estimate that wholesale earnings from illicit drug sales range from $13.6 to $49.4 billion annually, by the end of Felipe Calderóns administration, the official death toll of the Mexican Drug War was at least 60,000. Estimates set the death toll above 120,000 killed by 2013, given its geographic location, Mexico has long been used as a staging and transshipment point for narcotics and contraband between Latin America and U. S. markets. Towards the end of the 1960s, Mexican narcotic smugglers started to smuggle drugs on a major scale, during the 1970s and early 1980s, Colombias Pablo Escobar was the main exporter of cocaine and dealt with organized criminal networks all over the world. By the mid-1980s, the organizations from Mexico were well-established and reliable transporters of Colombian cocaine, transporters from Mexico usually were given 35% to 50% of each cocaine shipment. This arrangement meant that organizations from Mexico became involved in the distribution, as well as the transportation of cocaine, currently, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel have taken over trafficking cocaine from Colombia to the worldwide markets. The balance of power between the various Mexican cartels continually shifts as new organizations emerge and older ones weaken and collapse, a disruption in the system, such as the arrests or deaths of cartel leaders, generates bloodshed as rivals move in to exploit the power vacuum. The fighting between rival drug cartels began in earnest after the 1989 arrest of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, there was a lull in the fighting during the late 1990s but the violence has steadily worsened since 2000. The center-left PRI party ruled Mexico for around 70 years until 2000, during this time, drug cartels expanded their power and corruption, and anti-drug operations focused mainly on destroying marijuana and opium crops in mountainous regions. It is estimated that about 110 people died in Nuevo Laredo between January and August 2005 as a result of the fighting between the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels. The same year, there was another surge in violence in the state of Michoacán as the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel established itself, on December 11,2006, the newly elected President Felipe Calderón sent 6,500 Mexican Army soldiers to Michoacán to end drug violence there. As time passed, Calderón continued to escalate his anti-drug campaign, in there are now about 45,000 troops involved along with state. Mexico is a drug transit and producing country. It is the main supplier of cannabis and an important entry point of South American cocaine

32.
Geography of Mexico
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The geography of Mexico describes the geographic features of Mexico, a country in the Americas. Mexico is located at about 23° N and 102° W in the portion of North America. From its farthest land points, Mexico is a little over 3,200 km in length. Mexico is bounded to the north by the United States, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, to the east by the Gulf of Mexico, and to the southeast by Belize, Guatemala, and the Caribbean Sea. The northernmost constituent of Latin America, it is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world, Mexico is three times the size of Texas. Almost all of Mexico is on the North American Plate, with parts of the Baja California Peninsula in the northwest on the Pacific. Some geographers include the portion east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec including the Yucatán Peninsula within North America and this portion includes Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán, representing 12.1 percent of the countrys total area. Alternatively, the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt may be said to delimit the region physiographically on the north, geopolitically, Mexico is generally not considered part of Central America. Politically, Mexico is divided into states and a federal district. As well as numerous neighbouring islands, Mexican territory includes the more remote Isla Guadalupe, the meandering Río Bravo del Norte defines the border from Ciudad Juárez east to the Gulf of Mexico. A series of natural and artificial markers delineate the United States-Mexican border west from Ciudad Juárez to the Pacific Ocean, Boundary is jointly administered by the International Boundary and Water Commission. On its south, Mexico shares an 871 kilometer border with Guatemala and a 251-kilometer border with Belize. Mexico has a 9,330 kilometer coastline, of which 7,338 kilometers face the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, and the remaining 2,805 kilometers front the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Mexicos exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles off each coast, indeed, the state capital of Yucatán, Mérida, is farther north than Mexico City or Guadalajara. The northwest coastal plain is the given the lowland area between the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre Occidental averages 2,250 metres in elevation, the northeast coastal plain extends from the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre Oriental to the Gulf of Mexico. The median elevation of the Sierra Madre Oriental is 2,200 metres, the Mexican Altiplano, stretching from the United States border to the Cordillera Neovolcánica, occupies the vast expanse of land between the eastern and western sierra madres. A low east-west range divides the altiplano into northern and southern sections and these two sections, previously called the Mesa del Norte and Mesa Central, are now regarded by geographers as sections of one altiplano

33.
Climate of Mexico
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The climate of Mexico is highly varied. The Tropic of Cancer effectively divides the country into temperate and tropical zones, land north of the twenty-fourth parallel experiences cooler temperatures during the winter months. South of the parallel, temperatures are fairly constant year round. The north of the country generally receives less precipitation than the south, areas south of the twentieth-fourth parallel with elevations and heights up to 1,000 meters, have a yearly median temperature between 24 and 28 °C. Temperatures here remain high throughout the year, with only a 5 °C difference between winter and summer median temperatures, between 1,000 and 2,000 meters, one encounters yearly average temperatures between 16 and 20 °C. Above 2,000 meters, temperatures drop as low as an average yearly range between 8 and 12 °C in the Cordillera Neovolcánica, at 2,300 meters, Mexico City has a yearly median temperature of 15 °C with pleasant summers and mild winters. Average daily highs and lows for May, the warmest month, are 26 and 12 °C, and average highs and lows for January. Rainfall varies widely both by location and season, arid or semiarid conditions are encountered in the Baja California Peninsula, the northwestern state of Sonora, the northern altiplano, and also significant portions of the southern altiplano. Rainfall in these regions averages between 300 and 600 millimeters per year, although less in some areas, particularly in the state of Baja California. Average rainfall totals are between 600 and 1,000 millimeters in most of the populated areas of the southern altiplano, including Mexico City. Parts of the altiplano, highlands and high peaks in the Sierra Madres receive yearly snowfall. Citlaltépetl, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl continue to support glaciers, the largest of which is the Gran Glaciar Norte, Mexico has pronounced wet and dry seasons. Most of the experiences a rainy season from June to mid-October. February and July generally are the driest and wettest months, respectively, Mexico City, for example, receives an average of only 5 millimeters of rain during February but more than 160 millimeters in July. Coastal areas, especially those along the Gulf of Mexico, experience the largest amounts of rain in September, tabasco typically records more than 300 millimeters of rain during that month. A portion of northwestern Baja California has a mediterranean climate influenced by the California Current, with a season that occurs in winter. Another area of climate as a result of elevation occurs in the interior of Sonora. Mexico lies squarely within the belt, and all regions of both coasts are susceptible to these storms from June through November

34.
Forests of Mexico
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The forests of Mexico cover a surface area of about 64 million hectares, or 34. 5% of the country. These forests are categorized by the type of tree and biome, tropical forests, temperate forests, cloud forests, riparian forests, deciduous, evergreen, dry, moist, the agency in charge of Mexicos forests is the Comisión Nacional Forestal. Forested areas were part of indigenous communities commons for hunting, gathering. Areas of Mexico were deforested in the period around Teotihuacan. In the colonial era, forests were a source of timber for construction, for fuel in smelting metals, forested lands were included in indigenous community lands in the colonial era. In Chihuahua and in Michoacán and forests were exploited by timber companies, although forests had historically been utilized, the late nineteenth century marked the beginning of industrial-scale exploitation. Rainforests are found predominantly along the southeastern Atlantic coast, in regions with frequent rain, the average rainfall in these forests is above 2,000 mm and temperature is always higher than 18 °C, with little variation. The Lacandon Jungle is an area of rainforest which stretches from Chiapas into Guatemala, the heart of this rainforest is located in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas near the border with Guatemala in the Montañas del Oriente region of the state. It contains 1,500 tree species, 33% of all Mexican bird species, 25% of all Mexican animal species, 44% of all Mexican diurnal butterflies, Mexico is home to 50 species of pine and about 200 species of oak. It is estimated that forests in Mexico contain about 7,000 species of plants. The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve contains the over-wintering habitats of the population of the monarch butterfly. The reserve is located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests ecoregion on the border of Michoacán, millions of butterflies arrive in the preserve annually. Butterflies only inhabit a fraction of the 56,000 hectares of the reserve from October–March, the biospheres mission is not only to protect the butterfly species, but its habitat as well. The composition of the forest varies with altitude, oak species up to 2900 metres above sea level oak, paralleling the Pacific Coast in southwestern Mexico is a series of diverse tropical dry forests, adapted to an absence of rainfall for certain months of the year. Many trees here drop their leaves during the dry season but warm temperatures help to nurture plant life, the Jalisco Dry Forests are a region of large diversity in Mexico. Characteristic features of this forest are that the trees lose their leaves for a period of time during the dry season. The Chiapas Depression is a dry forest valley in southern Mexico, variations in altitude here have created amazingly diverse habitats for nearly 1,000 different dry adapted plant species. Five environmental requirements seem to govern the presence of forests in Mexico, high relative humidity, montane environments, irregular topography, deep litter layer

35.
Metropolitan areas of Mexico
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Metropolitan areas in Mexico have been traditionally defined as the group of municipalities that heavily interact with each other, usually around a core city. Northwestern and southeastern states are divided into a number of large municipalities whereas central states are divided into a large number of smaller municipalities. As such, metropolitan areas in the northwest usually do not extend more than one municipality whereas metropolitan areas in the center extend over many municipalities. A few metropolitan areas extend beyond the limits of one state, Greater Mexico City, Puebla-Tlaxcala, Comarca Lagunera, there are a total of fifty-six metropolitan areas of Mexico as defined by the following government bodies, The National Institute of Statistics and Geography. The United States shares a 2, 000-mile border with Mexico, the 2,000 miles is the most frequently crossed international border in the world, with about 250 million legal crossings every year. The distribution of population and urban population in Mexico has been changed significantly by the interaction between settlements in its north and the United States. Metropolitan areas located at the border with the U. S. form transnational conurbations with deep economic and demographic interaction. For example, the San Diego – Tijuana metropolitan area consists of San Diego County in the U. S. and the municipalities of Tijuana, Playas de Rosarito, and Tecate in Mexico. The total population of the region has estimated to be just over 5 million in 2009. A megalopolis, is known in Spanish as a corona regional de ciudades, the megalopolis consists of 173 municipalities and the 16 boroughs of the Federal District, with an approximate total population of almost 27 million people. List of metropolitan areas by population List of metropolitan areas in the Americas by population List of cities in Mexico Demographics of Mexico National Population Council — official website, National Institute of Statistics and Geography — official website

36.
Territorial evolution of Mexico
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Mexico has experienced many changes in territorial organization during its history as an independent state. The territorial boundaries of Mexico were affected by presidential and imperial decrees, the decree resulted in the independence from Spain. During the period of the Independence of Mexico, part of the organization of New Spain was integrated into the new nation of the Mexican Empire. Added to this were the Captaincy General of Yucatán and the Captaincy General of Guatemala and this yielded Mexicos largest land area as an independent nation. During the structuring of the Republic, territorial and legal changes reaffirmed the Catholic Churchs status as the religion for Mexicans. The new nation developed a popular and representative federal republic that recognized the sovereignty of the States constituting the federal union and this break from federalism brought Mexico its most turbulent and unstable era. During the Second Mexican Empire, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico made a new division of national territory, territorial divisions throughout Mexican history were generally linked to political change and programs aimed at improving the administrative, countrys economic and social development. The reorganization was accomplished by Manuel Orozco y Berra, and was according to the following rules. Whenever possible, natural features will be used for boundaries, the surface area of each department will take into account the terrain, weather, and all elements of production, so that the departments will hold an equal number of inhabitants. This division was of importance, because geographical features and projected development were taken into account for the delimitation of the jurisdictions. The territorial division of the Second Mexican Empire was used for a period because the Empire was overthrown in early 1867 with the execution of Maximilian I. The Federal Republic, and its divisions, were restored in that year. Several of the borders of the states and territories in northern Mexico remain unclear. The northern border of Sonora, for example, is described in various ways, the following maps do not show the separation of Zacatecas and Tabasco, which never became independent republics and were never proclaimed as such. The maps do not show the claim of Mexico on part of the former British Honduras, by the law of October 3,1835, the centralist system was introduced in the country. The entities that formed the Republic lost their freedom, independence and sovereignty, the Seven Constitutional Laws were enacted on December 30,1836. The sixth discussed the configuration in its first and second articles. Shortly thereafter, the Eighth Organic Base—a separate statute from the Seven Laws—was enacted and that initial territorial composition was regarded as final until 30 June 1838, by law of that date

37.
Time in Mexico
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Mexico uses four main time zones since February 2015, Zona Sureste covers the state of Quintana Roo. Zona Centro covers the eastern three-fourths of Mexico, including Mexico City, Guadalajara, Zona Pacífico covers the states of Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Sonora. Zona Noroeste covers the state of Baja California, including Tijuana, in addition, the law dictates that all island territories should fall within the time zone corresponding to their geographic location. Standard time was first defined in Mexico in 1921, when President Álvaro Obregón decreed two time zones, one time zone designated for 90° W covered the states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo. A second time zone designated for 105° W covered the rest of the country, from Baja California to Veracruz and Oaxaca. It was decreed in 1942 that the Hora del Noroeste should cover only the states of Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, the time zone Hora del Sureste was created for tourist reasons in 1981, originally covering the states of Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo. The three states returned one year later to the Hora del Centro, Quintana Roo, however, returned to the Hora del Sureste from October 1997 to August 1998, first observation of DST was in 1931, but only for the state of Baja California. It used the Hora del Centro from April 1 to September 30, until 1996, Baja California was the only Mexican state to officially observe DST every year, coinciding with the observance of DST across the border in San Diego, California. These states abandoned DST the following year and did not return to it until DST was adopted nationwide, daylight saving time has been observed nationwide in Mexico beginning in 1996. But in the rest of the country, daylight saving time is observed between 2 a. m. on the first Sunday in April through 2 a. m. on the last Sunday in October, Quintana Roo and Sonora states do not observe DST. The first is the three or four weeks between the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in April, the second is the single week between the last Sunday in October and the first Sunday in November. During these periods, clocks in Mexico City match those in Denver rather than those in Chicago, the Mexican Stock Exchange changes its hours during these periods in order to maintain synchronization with the U. S. markets. In 1998 the state of Chihuahua moved from Central time to Mountain time and this is likely because Ciudad Juárez is directly across the border from El Paso, Texas, which is on Mountain Time. Later, in 2001, Mexico experimented with a daylight saving period from the first Sunday in May till the last Sunday in September. When the United States extended their DST period in 2007, the congress refused to do the same for Mexico. For the second time, congress refused to adopt it nationwide, congress refused to approve the change for the third time in a 10-year period, discarding the bill on June 29,2016. Daylight saving time is observed in all parts of the country except for the states of Quintana Roo, and Sonora and this is to coincide with the non-observation in Arizona, with which Sonora shares its northern border. The island territories do not currently observe daylight time either, during non-DST period, Mexico uses 4 different time zones

Pyramid principal de La Venta, one of the oldest pyramids in the Americas.

The Castillo, Chichen Itza, Mexico, ca. 800-900 CE. A temple to Kukulkan sits atop this pyramid with a total of 365 stairs on its four sides. At the spring and fallequinoxes, the sun casts a shadow in the shape of a serpent along the northern staircase.

The War of the Reform (Spanish: Guerra de Reforma) in Mexico, during the Second Federal Republic of Mexico, was the …

Miguel Lerdo de Tejada drafted the law to disentail the lands of the Catholic Church and those of indigenous communities.

Alegoría de la Constitución de 1857 shows a dark complected Mexican woman clutching the liberal Constitution of 1857. The 1869 painting by Petronilo Monroy was completed after the expulsion of the French in 1867.

General Félix Zuloaga, conservative president of Mexico during the Reform War.

The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, was a social movement to …

The Modern Bed of Procrustes Procrustes. "Now then, you fellows; I mean to fit you all to my little bed!" Chorus. "Oh lor-r!!" "It is impossible to establish universal uniformity of hours without inflicting very serious injury to workers." – Motion at the recent Trades' Congress. Cartoon from Punch, Vol 101, 19 September 1891

The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States (Spanish: Constitución …

Cover of the original copy of the Constitution

Venustiano Carranza, leader of the victorious faction, convoked the elected body to draft the new constitution.

The new constitution was approved on 5 February 1917, and it was based in the previous one instituted by liberal Benito Juárez in 1857. This picture shows the Constituent Congress of 1917 swearing fealty to the newly created Constitution.

Revolutionary general Plutarco Elías Calles was a fierce anticlerical. When he became president of Mexico in 1924, he began enforcing the constitutional restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church, leading to the Cristero War (1926–29)